ATLANTA – Perhaps there’s someone or something on this planet (or any other) not out to get Pat Riley, but astronomers have yet to find him/her/it.
Following Wednesday night’s 14-point home loss, in which Portland visited the welfare line 32 times to Miami’s seven, Paranoid Pat – already 50G lighter for previously protesting the professionalism of the whistleblowers – again went ape on the refs, specifically Derrick Stafford.
Riley says he thought he was at the Comedy Store the way the officials were allegedly out there laughing, smiling and talking with the blistering Blazers.
Stafford responded by trademarking God’s gift to our beloved game a crybaby.
Just curious: In the dynamics of this delusional dullard, does the notion ever occur to him that his team is outmanned and outcoached every night?
This just in: Stu Jackson ruled Riley’s behavior leaves him no option but to suspend Ron Artest.
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Sixer chairman Ed Snider visited GM Billy King in the stands Wednesday evening during the fourth quarter of yet another home humiliation (85-111, courtesy of the Nets) for a little chat. If an astute accomplice of mine can truly read lips, Snider explained to King he can stomach being the runner-up in the championship round, but it’s not OK to finish second so often in regular-season games.
Rarely has a team fallen so rapidly from the ranks of the revered. Outplayed in nine of their last 11 outings at First Union Center, the injured Sixers have plunged into indifference. By all accounts, they’d have to pick up the pace by three steps just to be a step slow.
If this group were any deader, Phil Spector would’ve been led out of the joint in cuffs.
Whether Snider was posturing in front of his posse – sitting alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Net minority owner Lewis Katz, who kept giving him the business – is irrelevant. Later on, he offered his people support, but also said smiling (I couldn’t tell if his teeth were clenched), “Every time Larry Brown opens his mouth he sticks his foot in it. Next time he opens it I’m going to stick my fist in it.”
With the Sixers backing into the All-Star break at 25-24, you’ve got to believe Brown – velcroed to his seat for most of the season and unhappy with just about everyone and everything – has begun his own countdown to Athens. Nobody would be surprised if, following this season, Snider allows Brown to complete his contract as a consultant.
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So many have converged on this city (no lie, and it’s early yet) for All-Star weekend, the Chamber of Commerce hired Ray Lewis for crowd control.
I could be wrong, but there hasn’t been this much NBA interest in these parts since the Hawks got their mail in St. Louis.
If anybody was on the fence regarding Vince Carter‘s refusal to abdicate his starting spot to Michael Jordan – who would’ve turned it down, anyway – now that Charles Barkley criticized him you know he did the right thing.
Just because Barkley and Ahmad Rashad have made an industry out of genuflecting in front of MJ, why should others be expected to get down on their knees?
For whatever it’s worth, referee Eddie F. Rush first introduced Barkley to Jordan.
Truth be known, Barkley initially was upset because he thought Carter had refused to give up his seat to Rosa Parks.
After regaining his high school eligibility, thanks to Summit County Common Sense Pleas Judge James R. Williams, LeBron James was spotted leaving the courtroom wearing a throwback robe.